The Pangea Puzzle
Mark Uhen, George Mason University
Students learn how to use the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) to produce maps of fossils on the present-day Earth's surface, as well as past continental configurations. They will then use these maps to understand ...

Fossils under your Feet: Using the Paleobiology Database to explore local fossils
Rowan Lockwood, College of William and Mary
In this activity, students will explore what types of fossils have been found in their local area, where they were discovered, and how old they are, using the Paleobiology Database (PBDB).

Community Flood Risk Assessment from Rising/Surging Seas Project
Kevin Kupietz, Elizabeth City State University
Globally 634 million people, 10% of the world's population, live in coastal areas less than 10 meters above sea level. According to 2010 census data, 123 million people, 39% of the United States population, live in coastal counties with an estimated increase to this number by 8% in the 2020 census. As natural disasters have been seen to increase in frequency and severity in the past five years coupled with expected sea rises from climate change it is important that anyone involved with the safety and resiliency planning of their organization/community have an understanding of how to scientifically assess risk from flooding in order to mitigate and recover from the effects. This project allows students the ability to develop skills to utilize computer modeling systems and to apply the data to real world communities in examining risk to structures as well as different groups in the community.

Unit 3. Urban Water - Atmospheric Environment Interactions
Marshall Shepherd, University of Georgia
Unit 3 addresses concepts related to urban-atmosphere interactions. The content explores how urban landscapes and atmospheric constituents modify or interact with the atmosphere to affect temperature, clouds, ...

Unit 4: Hydraulic Modeling and Flood Inundation Mapping using HEC-RAS
Venkatesh Merwade, Purdue University (vmerwade@purdue.edu) James McNamara, Boise State University (jmcnamar@boisestate.edu)
The flow or discharge value in a river does not mean much to a layperson or a decision maker because this flow can be insignificant on a big river but can be dangerous on a small creek. Thus, we must know how to ...

Exercise 10: Plate Boundaries in the Woodlark Basin Region
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Barbara and David Tewksbury, Hamilton College Summary Students use a variety of data sets (bathy DEMs, SRTM DEMS, earthquake data, volcano data, ocean floor ages, and motion vectors) to 1) determine the locations ...

The Panama Passageway: Using the PBDB to constrain the timing and extent of the The Great American Biotic Interchange
Callan Bentley, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Students learn how to use the online Paleobiology Database to map changes in the distribution of fossil vertebrates in the Americas through time. They will generate distribution maps for several key fossil groups ...

Downloading Earthquake Data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Site for Anywhere in the World and Studying it Using ArcGIS
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Students download earthquake data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards website and plot and anlyze the earthquakes using ArcMap and ArcScene.

Digitization and Volumetric Analysis of Sediment Transport in a Simplistic Flume
Robin Mattheus, Hamilton College
C. Robin Mattheus, Hamilton College Summary The activity is designed to help students conceptualize the spatiotemporal relationships between erosion and deposition across a convex topography, which serves as a ...

Counting Critters: Using the Paleobiology Database to track fossil diversity through geologic time
Rowan Lockwood, College of William and Mary
Students learn how to use the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) to develop a diversity curve showing changes in global biodiversity through time. They then use this curve to explore major events in the history of life, ...